As discussed in the Explained, The World’s Water Crisis: “nothing has as much embedded water as meat”, at a wapping 15,000 L water/kg of hamburger. Yet, global meat consumption per person has been increasing since the 1960s. Despite the astronomical amount of water needed to produce meat, this water consumption is not priced into the product. That is why we can buy cheeseburgers for $2.99 (yes, I just checked the price for the campus MacDonalds on UberEats). This is problematic!
My vision is for *some* of the price of water to be reflected in the price of a product. I envision a world where corporations pay for high water consumption and consumers have incentives to buy less meat. I hope that we can purchase meat products in smaller quantities, reserve them for more special occasions, eat more vegetarian/vegan meals, and for meals that do have meat, shift North American standards to accent dishes with meat rather than having meat-centred dishes.
I believe that we currently have an extreme mismatch between the pricing of meat/dairy products and their production costs, and environmental impacts. Meat, milk, cheese, eggs (and fruits and vegetables) are subsidized food in Canada. I value consumers having appropriately priced food products that factor in an environmental component, including foods that require high amounts of water for production. I think that vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains should receive greater subsidies whereas animal products should receive less.
I would like there to be government interventions to factor in some of the price of water into
meat products (and other animal products too). Much like what Kai and Maia mentioned in class today, by establishing a corporate quota on water consumption after which water is costly/heavily taxed, would ensure that large quantities of water are paid for. Food policy for Canada must change in order to tackle the water crisis, which simultaneously also confronts other environmental issues (such as methane emissions).
Hi Inez,
I really loved your post! The way you crafted your thoughts, including real-life examples, pictures and potential interventions, definitely engaged me as a reader!
I really never thought about the vast amount of water that's needed in the production of meat but I think you are absolutely right, in that we should factor water consumption when we price meat products, but also when we price anything that uses water in its production.
Hi Inez, thank you for writing such an engaging post and for the Uber Eats screenshot- that's what made me read your post :) As many others, I have never considered the amount of water that meat contains - so thank you for raising some awareness about this topic! I absolutely agree with your approach. Corporations should pay for high water consumption and if I were given incentives for buying less meat, I totally would! Just out of curiosity, the statistic that you included of there being 15,000 L water/kg of hamburger, is that accounting for the amount of water that is naturally in meat or the amount consumed when preparing meat for consumption?
Hi Inez,
I really appreciate you shining a light on just how much water is used by the meat industry and for highlighting the glaring discrepancy between that water use and the price of meat products. I am totally on board with charging corporations more for their water use but I worry about the trickle down effects that it may have on lower income individuals. I'm definitely going to spend some more time thinking about this issue and I hope that we are able to find a solution to this complicated issue going forward.
I think there was a recent news story about 'eating a pound of beef emits a lot of carbon dioxide'. I can't remember the details because I just heard about it from my friend. But I probably assumed that it was because the process of breeding cattle and post-processing beef causes a lot of emissions and wasted resources.
I think we can't stop eating, and the fast pace of life can't be separated from the fast food culture like McDonald's, we need to recognize the reality that we will die if we don't eat!
I think we should focus on other aspects of research, such as how to use less water and resources to make more efficient and delicious food.
Love your post!!!
Hi Inez! I never realized how much water was being used in meat production.. This example really puts into perspective how cheap water is for us in comparison to how much we use. As well, I support your idea to make corporations pay higher prices for higher water consumption. I'm also glad that you included giving consumers incentives for buying meat rather than focusing on charging them more :) As there may be individuals that struggle financially and sometimes must rely on cheap and fast meals, I don't want them to have to suffer from increased prices so the incentive is an idea I really like!
Meat consumption is definitely out of wack, especially in NA. Imposing an environmental tax on animal products sounds pretty logical, and larger subsidies to things like vegetables could also help in solving food inequality for those that can't afford such foods.
Totally right Inez. However, I still can't wrap my head around the necessity why governments even need to intervene in countries where swapping out beef for plant based products doesn't even impact our food security...
First of all, DON'T USE UBER EATS TO ORDER MACDONALD ON CAMPUS!!! It's so expensive, use other apps.
I don't know if it's because of water use, but the price of food has really grown a lot lately. I'm a person who cooks more than three meals a day, and I can notice that the price of food has been adjusting for a long while, which used to confuse me, but now I might understand why.
I'm starting to think growing my own food is a good option, my grandparents have a small farm and they get all their food from their own farm all year round, I don't know if that saves water but at least it avoids all kinds of subsidy issues.
Hi Inez I totally agree with you! It's unbelievable how cheap these fast food meat products are, especially comparing with other vegetarian/vegan meals. The government should really consider water as part of the cost for these products.
After watching all the videos we have in class about what actually goes into producing some sort of good (i.e cost of transportation, manufacturing, marketing, etc.) it feels absolutely criminal to pay 2.99 for a burger D: I feel like I'm robbing like 7 different ecosystems and 9 different communities that put hours of work into that burger in the takeout bag :( I think your suggestion of having a price for water in meat production could make a hUge difference in water consumption!
hey inez! these are great points- here is where a market might be a really useful tool to change the status quo...If people won’t stop eating meat purely for an environmental reason, then why not use cost as a way to structure norms of consumption?
Hi Inez! Your post was really intriguing because I did not know so much water was being used to produce meat, which many people eat on a daily basis. I too, a lot of the times would turn away from vegetables since the price of meat seemed more reasonable than the high prices of vegetables. However, I think if meat reflected the price of water that was used to produce it, I would turn to buying more vegetables!
I really love this idea Inez. I think it would be really effective!!
Hey I like your idea, before this I probably would have rarely considered produced water as part of the investment cost of global water costs, indeed diary products not only have an impact in terms of the water crisis, but also the global carbon emissions.
I love your post! It's crazy that meat products can be so cheap at fast food chains when the environmental costs associated with these food items are so large. I would love to see some taxes applied to meat products as a way to pay for the water that was used to make a hamburger. However, Canadians will need to apply a lot of pressure on the government due to their interest in supporting the cattle/dairy industry.
Nicely said Inez. It is ridiculous to me that veggie/ vegan products and restaurant options are more expensive than meat products/ options. This way of pricing doesn't reflect the cost actual cause of these product, but rather reflects to values of most businesses/ corporation on veggie options. They either see it as a hassle, or a marketing opportunity. In my opinion, awareness and education is important for changing people's value on animal-based diet. As well as letting the price to reflect a product's true environmental cost.
Your post is so amazing, Inez. You explain the waste of water in terms of the water content in Hamburgers. You have brought to our attention that human beings have a huge demand for water not only in industry and in life. Large amounts of water are also spent on food, production, and cultivation. The government should also pay attention to food pricing and provide the subsidy to the specified product.
Your posts are always great Inez! Your numbers for embedded water in meat really got me thinking, I even did some math (though this may have more to do with my sanity this midterm szn and being bored on a bus):
Using 15415 L/kg of bovine meat (https://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprint-crop-and-animal-products/), 5 L/flush, and 3 minutes between flushes to let a toilet bowl refill (https://upgradedhome.com/how-long-should-it-take-to-fill-a-toilet-tank/), you could spend a whole year just flushing a toilet (using 876,000 L), and not even account for an average Canadian household’s water use from beef alone (998,892 L), based on 27 kg per capita beef consumption (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-type?country=~CAN) and an average household size of 2.4, from Statistics Canada’s 2016 census.
More seriously though, I’m really glad you addressed embedded water and more accurate pricing of food. Considering how big the water footprints of our diets are, reducing meat consumption is probably the most significant way to lower water use at the individual level. And you’re absolutely right that corporations need to stop taking water for granted.